RHTY&SC host 3rd Walter Nero Memorial Father’s Day programme

“The best gift a man can ever get is fatherhood. There is an old saying that God could not be everywhere, and as such, he created fathers to look after His children. Every man can become a father, but it takes a special man to be a dad.
“On behalf of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club (RHTY&SC), Medal of Service (MS), I would like to congratulate each one of you on being a role model parent, and for being a positive role model to your children”.
Those were the words of long serving Secretary/CEO of the RHTY&SC, MS, Hilbert Foster, MS, as he spoke at the third staging of the RHTY&SC’s Walter Nero Memorial Father’s Day programme.
With sponsorship from the Nero family and from its 10 cricket teams, more than 70 fathers from the Lower Corentyne catchment area were each honoured by the RHTY&SC with the gift of a food hamper.
Forty-year-old Eon Wiggins of Rose Hall Town was named the Walter Nero Memorial 2019 Father of the Year. A member of the RHTY&SC, Wiggins was selected to receive this honour because the RHTY&SC’s Management Committee for Cricket regards him as an outstanding father to his five children, including his eldest son Kevon, who is a player in the Senior Guyana Basketball Team.
The elder Wiggins has been the inspiration behind Kevon’s rise to becoming one of Guyana’s best basketballers, and has served as Kevin’s first coach.
The Management Committee for Cricket oversees the following teams: The Poonai Pharmacy Under-12 and Under-13, Farfan & Mendes Under-15, Bakewell Under-17 and Second Division, Pepsi Under-19 and Intermediate, Metro Female, and Gismos & Gadgets Under-21 and First Division.
Foster hailed Wiggins as a role model to all fathers, and one who has worked beyond the call of duty to make sure that all the needs of his children are met. Wiggins has been given a trophy, medal, framed certificate, a special gift, and a food hamper.
Foster has urged the elder fathers present to share their vast experience with those of the younger generation, who night be struggling to raise their children in the modern world.
Noting that raising children in 2019 is far different from what had obtained 30 years ago, Foster spoke of the many social ills that youths face today, including drug abuse, pre-marital sex, abuse of alcohol and tobacco, high youth unemployment, dropping out of school, extreme poverty, heading single-parent households, and lack of positive role models to emulate.
The Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club, he promised, would continue to invest heavily in programmes that focus on creating healthy family unity, and in assisting every youth to fulfil his/her full potential in sports, culture and education.
Foster also announced that with staging of the Father’s Day programme, the RHTY&SC, MS, has, in just six months, successfully completed 500 of the 700 activities it has set for completion in 2019. Among its upcoming programmes are: staging of the Annual Cricket Academy, Republic Bank Grade 6 Summer Camp, Youth Information Booklet, Annual Review Magazine, ANSA McAL Award of Excellence, Gregory Gaskin Memorial Berbice Sports Awards, and poster campaign for the Say No/Say Yes Initiative.
The Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, MS, has expressed gratitude to the overseas-based daughters of the late Walter Nero: Karen, Jackie, Sandra, Nancy and Theresa, for sponsoring the programme in memory of their dad. The combined cost of the hampers shared out has been put at more than $300,000.